Information processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus is comprised of a data input device for inputting informations, a memory for storing the informations input by the data input device, a processor for processing the informations in a form of a plurality of pages, a displaying device for displaying the informations formed in a unit of the pages, a device for registering image data in respect of owner name input by the data input device, a device for judging whether or not a predetermined process is done at one of the pages, and a device for storing the image data at a predetermined position of the one of the pages by a judged result of the judging device, wherein when the one of the pages is displayed, the stored image data is displayed with the informations.

This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 07/643,194, filed Jan.18, 1991.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

2. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to information processingapparatus and, more particularly, is directed to an informationprocessing apparatus in which a writer name of data is written in datagroup formed in a unit of page or in a unit of card group.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In a conventional computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a centralprocessing unit (CPU)) and so on, such a program is generally utilized,in which many data stored in a memory are stored in the form of aplurality of pages or in the form of a plurality of cards. In theprogram in which data are stored in the form of pages, predetermineddata are collected in a unit of pages, whereas in the program in whichdata are stored in the form of cards, cards indicating one data arestored randomly. In the following description, data formed in a unit ofpage and in a unit of card are treated together as a plurality of dataformed at every page. In the data formed in a unit of page, such as anotebook or the like, owner name column, address column and so on areprovided at the end of the notebook, and owner name and so on arewritten in these columns.

When the data formed in a unit of page or in a unit of card isconsidered, there are then disadvantages that the writer name, recordingdate or the printed out date of one of pages or cards sorted at everypage or at every card cannot be known. Particularly, while the writer ofdata can be known from a writing stroke of hand-written character or thelike, the writer of data written with a word processor can not bedefined. Even when the writer writes data by hand-writing, if suchhand-written data is displayed or recorded as printing type data, thenthe writer cannot be defined without difficulty.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved information processing apparatus which can eliminate theaforenoted shortcomings and disadvantages encountered with the priorart.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to providean information processing apparatus in which if data is written, asignature of writer of data is recorded on the end portion of page datawithout fail.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an informationprocessing apparatus in which writer name, date of writing and date ofcopying can be known.

As an aspect of the present invention, an information processingapparatus is comprised of a data input device for inputtinginformations, a memory for storing the informations input by the datainput device, a processor for processing the information in a form of aplurality of pages, a displaying device for displaying the informationsformed in a unit of the pages, a device for registering image data inrespect of owner name input by the data input device, a device forjudging whether or not a predetermined process is done at one of thepages, and a device for storing the image data at a predeterminedposition of the one of the pages by a judged result of the judgingdevice, wherein when the one of the pages is displayed, the stored imagedata is displayed with the information.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent in the following detailed description ofan illustrative embodiment to be read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals are used toidentify the same or similar parts in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of an information processingapparatus according to the present invention, and to which referenceswill be made in explaining an operation in which a name of owner isregistered;

FIG. 2 (formed of FIGS. 2A and 2B drawn on two sheets of drawings so asto permit the use of a suitably large scale) is a flowchart of theembodiment of the information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention, and to which references will be made in explaining anoperation in which a writer's name is copied;

FIG. 3 (formed of FIGS. 3A and 3B drawn on two sheets of drawings so asto permit the use of a suitably large scale) is a flowchart of theembodiment of the information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention, and to which references will be made in explaining anoperation in which a time is written;

FIGS. 4A to 4E are schematic diagrams of examples of picture screens,and to which references will be made in explaining operations of theinformation processing apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating the embodiment of the informationprocessing apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing an overall arrangement ofthe information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS.1 to 6. Prior to describing the present invention with reference to FIG.1, the embodiment in which the information processing apparatus of thepresent invention is applied to a very small computer will be explainedwith reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 shows a front view of this information processing apparatus.Referring to FIG. 5, there is provided a display apparatus 1 formed of aliquid crystal display (LCD) device or the like, that is, a displaysection 1. The display section 1 displays on a picture screen thereofvideo image data from a central processing unit (CPU) or the like whichwill be explained later. An input apparatus, that is, an input tablet 2formed of a so-called transparent touch sensor or the like is providedon the surface of the display section 1. A pen 3 is adapted to inputarbitrary data or the like in cooperation with the input tablet 2. TheCPU incorporates therein a detecting means for sensing the change ofelectrostatic capacity of the input tablet 2 and the pen 3 via the pen 3so that, even when the point of the pen 3 is not in contact with theinput tablet 2, its coordinates can be detected by the detecting means.Also, a cursor is displayed on the display section 1 at its positionopposing to the point of the pen 3. When the user picks up the pen 3 andtouches the input tablet 2 with the point of the pen 3, theninformations such as their contact condition, contact position and so onare supplied through a cord 4 or the like to the CPU, thereby arbitrarydata being input to the CPU. Further, reference numerals 5 a, 5 b, 5 c,5 d and 6 a, 6 b, 6 c, 6 d designate predetermined key switches andsignals therefrom are supplied to the CPU.

Reference numeral 7 designates a speaker, and 8 a battery accommodatingsection in which a power source battery is accommodated in the inside ofa lid which is made openable and/or closable by releasing a lockingmechanism 9. Further, reference numeral 10 denotes a power switch.

Broken lines in FIG. 5 represent positions of mechanisms or the likeprovided on the side wall of the apparatus, wherein reference numeral 11denotes a microphone and 12 an operation key group which is used toperform a solid state recording which will be referred to later. Byoperating the operation key group 12, an audio signal fed to themicrophone 11 is recorded and is emanated from the speaker 7. Further,reference numeral 13 designates a position of a socket into which an ICcard such as a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM) andso on is inserted and connected and reference numeral 14 designates aposition of expansion socket which is used to connect this apparatus toexternal apparatus and so on.

Further, reference numeral 15 designates a hinge which incorporatestherein a flexible substrate or the like through which a signal istransmitted. Owing to this hinge 15, this apparatus can be folded intotwo parts without being affected by an electrical interference or thelike. When this apparatus is in use, this apparatus is about 29 cm longand about 20 cm wide in the unfolded state and is about 4 cm thick inthe folded state. The display section 1 is about 4 cm long and 10 cmwide.

In this apparatus, an arrangement of hardware incorporated therein isrepresented in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown the CPU 21 to which various functionICs and so on are connected through a bus line 22. A ROM 23 is connectedthrough the bus line 22 to the CPU 21, and in addition to a systemprogram for controlling the entierty of this apparatus, a Kana-kanjiconversion program for word processing function in Japanese, adictionary table therefor, a hand-written input information recognitionprogram and a dictionary table therefor and so on are written in thisROM 23.

Further, reference numeral 24 designates a RAM for work area, and 25 abackup RAM to which a power source 26 is connected.

Reference numeral 27 designates a timer IC, and this timer IC 27 isdriven by the power source 26. The timer IC 27 also counts clocksgenerated from a quartz oscillator 28 and always outputs data of dateand clock at the time point when it counts the clock.

Connection relations between this hardware and respective sections inthe front view of FIG. 5 will be explained hereinafter with reference toFIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, a display controller 29 is shown to control thedisplay section 1. This display controller 29 is controlled by the CPU21 and display data made by the CPU 21 is written in the V-RAM (videoRAM) 30 through the display controller 29. Also, data written in theV-RAM 30 is supplied through the display controller 29 to the displaysection 1, thereby being displayed in a predetermined manner.

A tablet interface circuit 31 is provided for the input tablet 2 whichis integrally formed with the display section 1 and the pen 3. By way ofthe interface circuit 31, data or the like written in the input tablet 2is supplied to the CPU 21, in which it is processed in a predeterminedmanner.

A solid state recording processing circuit 32 is provided to process anaudio signal from the microphone 11 in a predetermined manner such as ananalog-to-digital (A/D) conversion or the like. The thus processedsignal is stored in the backup RAM 25 through the CPU 21. Audio datastored in the backup RAM 25 is supplied to the solid state recordingprocessing circuit 32, in which it is processed in a predeterminedmanner such as a digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion or the like, thethus processed signal being fed through a mixer 33 to the speaker 7.

Further, reference numeral 34 designates a dialler circuit whichgenerates, when supplied with arbitrary data such as a phone number orthe like from the CPU 21, an acoustic signal corresponding to a dualtone signal such as a phone number or the like of a so-called pushphone. This acoustic signal from the dialler circuit 34 is suppliedthrough the mixer 33 to the speaker 7.

A key interface circuit 35 is adapted to receive directly or through apower source circuit 36 signals from key switch group such as theabove-mentioned keys 5 a to 5 d, 6 a to 6 d, 10 and 12 or the like. Fromthis key interface circuit 35, a signal converted in a predeterminedmanner is supplied to the CPU 21. Incidentally, key switches 12 otherthan the power switch 10, the key switches 6 a to 6 d and the stopbutton are connected through the power source circuit 36 to the keyinterface circuit 35. When these key switches are operated, the powersource circuit 36 is driven first and then informations indicative ofthe ON or OFF state of these key switches are supplied to the keyinterface circuit 35.

An IC card interface circuit 37 and an expansion interface circuit 38are connected to the bus line 22 and the sockets 13 and 14. The IC cardinterface circuit 37 is used to connect the IC card to this apparatusand the expansion interface circuit 38 is used to connect this apparatusto external apparatus when the system of this information signalprocessing apparatus is expanded.

In the above-mentioned very small computer, when the power switch 10shown in FIG. 5 is depressed, then icon groups 40 which can effectvarious processings shown in FIG. 4C are displayed on the upper portionand right-hand side of the display section 1. If an icon 41 described as[see] of the icon groups 40 is touched with the point of the pen 3 andone of characters train of [action], [connection], [report] and so ondisplayed on the left side of the [see] icon 41, for example, [report]is touched with the point of the pen 3, a report picture 42 shown inFIG. 4C is displayed on the display section 1. In this case, a pictureof eagle 43 drawn on the report picture 42 is a picture drawn, forexample, on the first page of the report page. A name 60 who draws thispicture is displayed on the end portion of this report page. Such manypages are memorized in the memory as report data and stored therein.Each page on these report pictures is not provided with a page numberbecause it is very troublesome to rewrite the page number when onereport is stored. Further, the content of [report] is not limited to thefigure or the like and sentences and so on are written in the [report]in most cases. Of course, if a write icon 44 described as [write] istouched with the point of the pen 3, and of the icon groups 40 arrayedon the upper portion of the display section 1, a printing type icon 45described as [printing type] or a figure icon 46 described as [figure]is touched with the point of the pen 3, a printing type plate or afigure plate is dragged in the report picture 42 and the printing typeor the figure can be drawn on the report pictures 42. [connection] isgenerally used to write or to check a telephone directory, an addressbook and so on. Further, [action] is used to write or to check aschedule table or the like, and respective pages of these various dataare stored in the memory in the form of cards.

In this embodiment, together with signature of writer, his sign or penname, the time when the record, paging and so on are determined anddisplayed on the predetermined position of each card, for example, onthe end portion at every data of the card.

The embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart to which references will be made in explaininga method in which a name is registered in the apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1, following the Start of operation, in first step S1the power switch 10 is turned ON first and the icon groups 40 aredisplayed on the upper portion and right portion of the display section1 as shown in FIG. 4A. When of these icon groups 40 displayed on theright side of the display section 1 other icon 47 described as [others]which is located on the lowermost portion of the icon group 40 istouched with the point of the pen 3 and an owner page is opened, then anowner page picture 48 is displayed on the display portion 1 as shown inFIG. 4A. On the owner page, in addition to a column 49 in which owner'sname, address of owner's home, phone number of owner's home, address ofowner's company, phone number of owner's company and so on are written,an owner name column 50 in which owner's name such as , sign or pen nameand so on are written is provided. In this owner column, A, B, O and ABdenote blood types and ? denotes an unknown blood type. If the ownertouches own blood type, the owner's blood type is registered. In secondstep S2, if the printing type icon 51 described as [printing type] ofthe icon group 40 is touched with the point of the pen 3 and the top ofthe pen 3 is dragged up to the center of the picture screen of thedisplay section 1 without lifting the top of the pen 3 from the picturescreen of the display section 1, then the printing type icon 51 isenlarged and the printing type plate 52 is obtained as shown in FIG. 4B.This printing type plate 52 is displayed in a superimposed fashion onthe owner picture 48, and the printing type plate 52 is displayed at theposition in which the point of the pen 3 is lifted off from the picturescreen. In the printing type plate 52 superimposed upon the ownerpicture 48 as described above, a hand-writing key 53 is placed in anactive state as shown by a hatched portion in FIG. 4B. If the name of,for example, “” is written on a box-shaped portion 54 of the printingtype plate 52 with the pen 3, a kanji key 55 of characters key istouched with the point of the pen 3 and a recognition key 56 is touchedwith the point of the pen 3, then the CPU 21 recognizes the hand-writtencharacters and converts the recognized characters into predeterminedprinting type kanji characters, which are then displayed on thebox-shaped portion 54. Thus, the registration of the owner's name on theowner name column 50 is finished.

While in the second step S2 the printing type plate 52 is opened and theowner signs his name, the figure plate 46 written as [figure] may beopened and the owner may sign his name on this figure plate 46 or thelike.

If registration of owner name, the sign or pen name or the like on theowner name column 50 is finished, then the CPU 21 writes the signedowner name and the registration time on the end portion of each carddata in accordance with the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3.

An operation in which the owner name is written in each card data willbe explained with reference to FIG. 2 and FIGS. 4C, 4D and 4E.

Referring to FIG. 2 (formed of FIGS. 2A and 2B drawn on two sheets ofdrawings so as to permit the use of a suitably large scale), followingthe Start of operation, it is determined in first step ST1 whether ornot a write page is opened by touching the write icon 44 with the pointof the pen 3. If the write page is not opened as represented by a NO atstep ST1, then other processing is performed at second step ST2 and theprocessing returns to the first step ST1. If the write page is opened asrepresented by a YES at step ST1, then the processing proceeds to thirddecision step ST3. In third step ST3, it is determined whether or notthe figure icon 46 described as [figure] is touched with the point ofthe pen 3 and the figure plate is reproduced on the report picture 42of, for example, the display section 1 or the write icon 45 described as[printing type] is touched with the point of the pen 3 and the printingtype plate is reproduced on the report picture 42 of, for example, thedisplay section 1, and new figure or new character is written in thefigure plate or in the printing type plate. If a NO is output at stepST3, then the processing proceeds to the next fourth decision step ST4.In decision step ST4, it is determined whether or not any data isalready written, for example, in the opened report page (action page andconnection page may be possible). If no data is written on the openedreport page as represented by a NO at step ST4, the opened report pageis a blank page and the processing proceeds to the end. If the openedreport page or card is a page in which something is already written,this card is sent to the fifth decision step ST5. It is determined instep ST5 whether or not this card is copied. If a NO is output at stepST5, the processing proceeds to the end, whereas if a YES is output atstep ST5, then the processing proceeds to fifth step ST6. In step ST6,when the copy is performed, a copy icon 58 (see FIG. 4C) is dragged andthe copy processing is carried out by a copy plate 59 shown in FIG. 4D.In this copy plate 59, the copy is performed by designating the numberof copies, a page designating key and a copy starting key.

While there is a possibility that a plurality of copies may be required,in these copies, the owner name, sign and pen name (referred to later)written on the owner name column are rewritten as [copy] 57. FIG. 4Eshows the report picture in the above-mentioned condition. That is, inthe case of the copy, the owner name is not the writer name and thewriter name becomes the [copy] 57. If a YES is output at step ST3 inwhich new data is written in the figure plate or in the printing typeplate, then the processing proceeds to the next decision step ST7.

It is determined at decision step ST7 whether or not the page is turnedover. If the page is turned over as represented by a YES at step ST7,then the processing proceeds to step ST8, whereat the content of writercolumn (owner name column), that is, name of [] or the like is copied tothe corresponding position of the determined page and then theprocessing proceeds to the end. If a NO is output at decision step ST7,then the processing proceeds to the next decision step ST9, whereat itis determined whether or not the data is recorded on a floppy disk. If aYES in which data is recorded on the floppy disk is output at step ST9,then the processing proceeds to step ST10 in which the name on the ownername column is copied similarly to step ST8. In that case, step ST9 isnot limited to the floppy disk and may be applied to the case that datais recorded on a magnetic medium such as a magnetic tape, a hard diskand so on or a recordable, a rewritable optical disk and so on.

At the completion of step ST10, then the processing proceeds to the end.If a NO is output at step ST9, then the processing proceeds to the nextdecision step ST11. It is determined in step ST11 whether or not thecard, which is turned over, is printed out. If the card is printed outas represented by a YES at step ST11, then the owner name is copiedsimilarly to step ST8 and the processing proceeds to the end. If a NO isoutput at step ST11, then the processing proceeds to the next decisionstep ST13. It is determined in step ST13 whether or not the power sourceis turned OFF. If the power source is turned OFF as represented by a YESat step ST13, then the processing proceeds to step ST14, whereat theowner name is copied similarly to the step ST8. Then, the processingproceeds to the end. Under the condition that the steps ST8, ST10, ST12and ST14 are finished, as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D, a name 60 signed onthe end portion of each card data is displayed.

If a NO is output at step ST13, then the processing proceeds to the nextdecision step ST15, whereat it is determined whether or not the name iscopied. If a YES is output at step ST15, then the processing proceeds tostep ST16. In step ST16, the copy is performed similarly to step ST6,and the writer column of the copied page is changed to [copy] 57 asshown in FIG. 4E. That is, in step ST16, since it is the copy of thewriter who describes the data in the card, the signature of owner nameis removed. While the flowchart in steps ST4 to ST6 illustrates the casesuch that the owner name signed on the card data in which something isalready written is changed to [copy], step ST16 shows the case that thesignature of the writer who writes data immediately after new data iswritten in the card is changed to [copy] and [copy] is determined.Similarly, steps ST7, ST9, ST11 and ST13 illustrate the case that thesignature of the writer who writes data immediately after new data iswritten in the card is changed to [copy] and [copy] is determined. If aNO is output at step ST15, other processing that the aforementionedprocessings is carried out at step ST17, and then the processingproceeds to the end.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the card data isturned over, printed out and recorded on the record medium or when thepower source is turned OFF, the name of the writer who writes the carddata is displayed so that the writer who describes the card data can beknown immediately. Further, in the copied card data, the name of thewriter who writes the card data is erased and changed into [copy]. Thus,it can be determined immediately whether the card data is the true carddata or the copied card data.

FIG. 3 (formed of FIGS. 3A and 3B drawn on two sheets of drawings so asto permit the use of a suitably large scale) is a flowchart to whichreferences will be made in explaining an operation in which a time isrecorded when data is recorded on a record medium such as a floppy diskor the like, when data is printed out, when the power switch is turnedOFF and when data of the determined page is copied. In FIG. 3, likeparts corresponding to those of FIG. 2 are marked with the samereferences and therefore need not be described in detail.

In FIG. 3, steps STE6, STE8, STE10, STE12, STE14 and STE16 correspond tosteps ST6, ST8, ST10, ST12, ST14 and ST16 in FIG. 2. In steps STE8,STE10, STE12 and STE14, a value of present time from the timer 27 iswritten in the determined page at its corresponding recording position.FIGS. 4C and 4D show card data in which a time 61 of the determined pageis written. Further, in steps STE6 and STE16, the determined page iscopied and a present time from the timer 27 is written in the copiedpage at its corresponding recording position. FIG. 4E shows thecondition such that a current time 62 at which the determined page iscopied is written in each card data.

According to the above-mentioned arrangement, even when the userreceives card data (page data) by means of electronic mail, a FAXcommunication, IC card and so on and mixes the received card data withowner's card data, it is possible for the user to know clearly when andfrom whom the card data is sent, that is, those who sent the card dataand the time at which data is transmitted.

While the copy of owner's signature and the writing of time areindependently performed in the aforementioned embodiment, as shown inFIGS. 4C, 4D and 4E, the above operations may be performed at the sametime. Further, it is needless to say that not only the time but alsodate may be registered.

Furthermore, the input of data is not limited to the pen 3 and data maybe input to the apparatus by utilizing a keyboard and so on.

As set out above, according to the present invention, if any data iswritten in card data when the user opens the check page and the writepage, the signature, sign, pen name or the like of the writer who writesthe data is recorded and date and time when card data is determined arealso recorded, thus making it possible for the user to know clearly thewriter's name and time and date of the recording.

Further, according to the information processing apparatus of thepresent invention, it is possible for the user to know the time whencard data is copied.

Having described a preferred embodiment of the invention with referenceto the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the inventionis not limited to that precise embodiment and that various changes andmodifications thereof could be effected by one skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the novel concepts of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. An information processing apparatus, comprising: a storagedevice configured to store image data, wherein the image data iscomprised of a distinctive mark that indicates an identity of an owner;a processor coupled to the storage device and configured to processinformation into a plurality of pages, wherein each page is configuredto be visually presented as an electro-optical image, wherein theprocessor further is configured to determine whether a predeterminedprocess is performed with respect to a page, and wherein the processoris configured to automatically store the distinctive mark at apredetermined position on each page for which the predetermined processis performed; and a display coupled to the processor and configured tovisually present each page as an electro-optical image, wherein, foreach page in which the predetermined process is performed, that page isconfigured to be visually presented by the display with the distinctivemark and wherein, for each page in which the predetermined process isnot performed, that page is configured to be visually presented by thedisplay without the distinctive mark.
 2. The information processingapparatus of claim 1, wherein the distinctive mark is at least one ofhand print letters and hand cursive letters.
 3. The informationprocessing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information includescomputer font letters.
 4. The information processing apparatus of claim2, wherein the distinctive mark is associated with a time stamp, whereinthe time stamp conveys a value that is a function of a performance of apredetermined process.
 5. The information processing apparatus of claim1, wherein if a page displaying a distinctive mark is copied to producea duplicate page, then the duplicate page is configured to be visuallypresented by the display without the distinctive mark but with computerfont letters that convey that the page is a duplicate page.
 6. Theinformation processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the owner is acopyright owner and the predetermined process is one of page turn over,page recorded on a medium, page print out, power turn off, and pagecopy.